Pecan Grove (www.pecan-grove.net) Pecan Grove and Senior Residence

June has been a hot one! Which means endless mowing and watering in the orchard. Because of the extra time spent in the orchard we have kicked up a few interesting critters. Left is Bella with a few day old fawn. We believe it was left by its mother in the tall grass but once that was gone it had to run for the woods. Bella did not hurt it, but got close enough to give it the fright of its life! On the right is a very confused box ear slider, we found it wandering in the orchard far from home. Kenny thinks that it would make the perfect mascot for the residents, call us the “Faithful Turtles”!

We have had some special visits this month of the human variety. Ronald’s nephew Bud Neff brought Ronald back from his family reunion in Missouri, and stayed for a visit. As well as some old friends who used to meet with us: Dorothy, William and Gage Sutton. They know several residents quite well so they dropped in to say hello, pictured right.

We had a wonderful visit with Amparo Gonzalez from Guatemala, Jennifer Downs and Ruth Taplin. Jennifer and Ruth are in the south Houston field. Here they are posing in front of the fire place as well as in a group chat.

We’ve had a few surprise visits with children as well. Pam Lacock joined us for a few days with her two grandsons, Asher and Willum, seen here in front of the entrance, as well feeding fish with uncle Ronald and Elsie on the deck.

Anita’s family came for a day visit, here they are in a paddle boat on the pond. Her daughter, Connie, and husband, David, and their son, Noel. Ed Smalley, who worked with Ken and Wayne, also came for a lunch visit. He got a kick out of Elton’s stories!

Rich was kind enough to stop by with one of the friends from Louisville Kentucky, Lisa Daly. She knew Esther from her time there, and remembered Fern from way back. Unfortunately she was on a five hour lay over so her visit had to be brief. Here she is with Esther, Fern and Della.

The Schroeder’s granddaughter, Candace Sandon, brought her three kids AJ, Miles, and Brynna for a few days visit of their great grandparents! Elsie got busy and made dinner and cherry pie for dessert! Here are Candace and baby Brynna, then all of the children with grandma Becky and great grandparents.

Only one birthday this month, our newest resident Joyce Naber turned 79! We celebrated a few days early in order for everyone to be able to join us for a nice steak lunch with all the fixin’s. Here is Joyce with her “Lemon Tower” cake and the biggest grin you’ve ever seen!  This was also a going away lunch for Bettie and Jerry Goldner, posing with Abigail in the last picture.  They had been living in the house Jack and Leona lived in, but moved this month to Pearland to be closer to their daughter, Michele Rodriguez.  Kenny and Salena plan to move into that house after some upgrades.

Esther received a very thoughtful gift this month, an entire tea set! Along with enough tea to last two years! She had a tea party in Marilynn’s room using her new tea pot just to stay fancy. Here she is beaming with her nice gift. On the bottom is Esther’s tea party, notice all of the festive hats! Della’s daughter, Henrietta, sent them for just this kind of occasion and they arrived the day of the tea party! How nice!

Shawn had the great idea of having “Resident Saturdays” for the kitchen, where he asks those who are interested to make a dish of their choice. He had several takers on the first go around.  Here are Elise and Marie making Moon Pies and Shrimp Etouffee, respectfully. Marylinn had fun making pancakes one morning. Another day Marie made Swedish meatballs.

All the kids are off for summer break, so Ken and Kathy have been having some fun in the sun with each one. Maren and Maven both have come to spend a night with the grandparents, and even got an opportunity to drive grandpa’s buggy! On the right are all 6 of the grandkids visiting their great-grandpa Jack, it looks like Dylan is really having a good time!

We hope everyone is staying cool in this heat! Thank you for your interest in us, we appreciate it very much.

Kenny, Salena and Ken

In the April update we forgot to mention that Leah Bolt passed away near Newry PA on April 8th.  The Bolt and Newman families have been close since the gospel came to the northeast corner of Maryland in 1936-37.  Ed and Leah helped get PG up and running in 2009.  Later they came as part-time residents for a few months at a time. Here’s Ed and Leah when leaving in March 2009, and then Leah the last time here in April 2015 with her grandson Travis Bolt.  David Bolt, Ed and Leah’s son and Travis’s father, visited PG in May, shown here with his aunt Della Bolt, Elton and Esther.

Joyce Naber came from North Carolina to PG as our newest resident in May.  Here she’s with Suzanne McCorkell who brought her from NC.  The next picture is of our 11 residents with 2 visitors.  The visitors are Rich Raschke and Suzanne.  The residents are: (back) Marilynn Frye, Ronald Elliott, Esther Duncan, Marie Mounce, Elton Cleveland: (front) Della Bolt, Fern Duncan, Alice Oetken, Joyce Naber, Elsie and Louis Schroeder.

Three birthdays were celebrated together for Dominque, Kathy and Ken.

There was another birthday party at Mille’s home for Dominique including their children, Pierre and Elisa Herd, and several of the friends from this area.

Several Schroeder relatives visited in May.  Randy Satterfield brought Roberta Stipp back from LA.  Jim Stipp drove down.  The first picture shows them with Amanda Darby who was visiting from Austin.  The second picture shows Jim with Louis and Elsie and their daughter Carol and husband Troy Aarestad from CA.  In the third picture, Jim left taking Roberta back to her field, and taking Ronald Elliott with them.  Ronald is going to a family reunion in Missouri in June.  The 4th picture is the Schroeder family including Don and Becky, their son Theron and daughter Lana Newman with her daughters.  The last picture is of Lana and Chase Newman from ID, and their daughters Lucy and Ellie.

Mary Hammack, Millie Robinson and Sharon Wahlin visited from GA.  Here they are with Rich Raschke and Judy Timmersman who was visiting from Euless TX.

Salena’s mother, Diane, aunt Doris and sister Shanda and Doug Thompson visited.  Doris, Shanda and Diane are shown with Marilynn and Joyce.  The second picture includes them with Ken and Kathy’s family, Karin Kelleher, Karla and Brendan Furrow, Kenny and Salena and our 6 grandchildren.  Two of Marie Mounce’s sisters, Verena McFadden and Annette and Lecil Bassett visited and took Marie to see Clarence in Georgetown.

Della’s daughter Chris and Mike Gerstenberger visited Della on Mother’s day.  Overby’s daughter Kari and Del Campbell from AR visited.  Dennis and Susan Thompson from TN visited, shown here with Esther.

Fred, Julie and their son Benjamin Adadjo (NY & TX) visited, shown here with Fern.  Alice’s cat is very much at home now.

Thanks!

Ken, Kenny and Salena

The Texas special meetings were in February, ending here in the Houston area. We were glad to have all of the workers here Tuesday for a workers meeting and lunch/hymn sing.  We have a new worker starting out in our field, Malachi Klor. He started here with Rich Raschke last Tuesday. It wasn’t clear who was more excited, Rich or Malachi!  Malachi’s parents Scott and Kimberly Klor also were able to join us for the special occasion. Here are a few pictures of the new companions, the Klors, and the gathering.

Today (2/28) John VanDenBerg and Kent Williston were with us for our morning bible study and they asked for a group picture.  Our 8 residents include the 6 ladies up front, Marilynn Frye, Alice Oetken, Marie Mounce, Fern Duncan, Esther Duncan and Della Bolt.  In the back: John VanDenBerg, Dominique Mille, Ken, Kathy, Elton Cleveland, Ronald Elliott, Kent Williston and Shawn Bass.  Ty Nordic took the picture.

Della has been waiting for sometime to get a much needed bladder surgery done. Unfortunately, when she was tested for covid prior to her surgery her test came back positive! We had to go into lockdown here at PG and she was quarantined during that time. We tested everyone here at PG and Della as well.  All tests (quick and PCR) came back negative. That was a good sign for the residents, but that still meant that Della’s surgery had to be postponed until after quarantine. Fortunately, she was able to get the surgery later without further incident. Her daughter Henrietta came from California to be with her for the week of her surgery. Afterward Henrietta was joined by her two sisters Chris and Della Mae. Della made a speedy recovery and is nearly back to her usual self. Here are a few pictures of Della before and after her surgery recovering with family!

In other medical news, Marilynn suffered a fall recently. She was fixing the rug in her bathroom when she lost balance and fell on her left knee. We took her the doctor and they found that she fractured her knee cap. Being Marilynn she took this in stride, and has been doing quite well pushing herself around in a wheelchair. She even makes jokes about her new condition, nothing keeps her down! We have her scheduled for some physical therapy to help get motion back into her left leg; but so far she has it straightened out on a “highly specialized” foot rest made for her by David Cleveland. Here she is showing off her new and improved wheelchair!

Lois and Gilbert are still hanging in there at the Park Manor nursing home.  Lois has her good and bad days.  Sometimes her mind is clearer than other times.  Both had several visits during special meeting week.  Ken and Kathy hung a bulletin board for each of them so that they could have pictures to remind them of their wonderful friends. Here they are posing next to their new display boards, and then a picture of Lois with her Valentines day bouquet!

Ronda Rosamond (Ken’s sister) came from AR for a few day visit with Jack, Lois, and Gilbert. Here are some pictures her with Lois, Gilbert (and Kathy) and Jack with Kathy, Karin, Katelyn, and Dylan Kelleher.

We had a lovely visit from our friends Andy and Aleta young, who generously brought us some of their fresh butchered beef!  Mark and Donna Richtsmeier from Hunter ND visited, shown here with Wayne and Dawn Overby and then with Marilynn Frye.

Alice’s cat has learned to come through her window, which keeps her out of sight and out of mind for the other residents.  The cat has done more for Alice than any doctor could do!

Recently we have been discussing the possibility of there being two new residents added to PG: Louis and Elsie Schroeder. They were brought here for a one week trial visit by their son and his wife: Don and Becky Schroeder. Both of them are good physical shape, considering they are 98 and 93 respectively! Both of them are very out going and talkative, making them the life of the party around here! They seemed to do well and enjoyed visiting with the residents one on one.  They are planning on moving here sometime in March.  Here are a few pictures of them at PG.

February is the month for two special birthdays here at PG; Patty Maki (71) and Mireille Mille (72)! Here are some pictures of them enjoying their birthday celebrations!

Thank you for your interest in us here.

Kenny and Ken